Conquering the world of computer science, one co-op at a time | Co-operative Education

Franklin Ramirez (he/him) is in his 3A term of Computer Science with a specialization in artificial intelligence and minor in psychology. Franklin discusses finding a co-op job that suits him and how he hones his skills to match his career goals. He also shares his tips and strategies for effectively utilizing his résumé in co-op.

Franklin's co-op journey

Work term one: Franklin’s first work term landed him at the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade as an information technology (IT) assistant. He got to learn more about the IT field using hands-on skills that he wouldn’t normally use in his studies. Franklin also expanded his soft skills, such as communication, as he was consistently connecting with people to solve their technology-related issues.

Work term two: For his second work term, Franklin was a software developer at Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). He worked closely with the development team working on developing new internal tools to expedite IT processes in his workplace.

Q&A with Franklin

How have you tailored or updated your résumé and your cover letter based on the experiences you've had?

“The issue I had in my first year was that I didn't have a lot of experience. I found that with tech jobs they tend to look for someone who has some relevant experience. At the beginning I had a few small YouTube tutorial projects which didn't really make me stand out.”

“After that I really started looking for what employers want, or at least, what do I think these employers look for. From there I started tailoring my résumé to be more technical as I found that was what they were looking for.”

“I’m also continuously learning. I have these personal projects that are ongoing or completed and they show my proficiency in these skills.”

“The thing I always add is a little something cool that shows it's not just projects and professional experience on my résumé. Sometimes I put in an award I received, a conference I attended or I spoke at or a demonstration I gave in a class. Anything that helps you stand out and make the interviewer think “This is pretty cool. Maybe I should ask this person for an interview.””

Franklin Ramirez presenting at the TEDxUW conference

What did you enjoy about the companies you’ve worked for?

“In my first co-op, I really appreciated that it was a small team, maybe around 10-12 people. I felt really valued as part of the team. They treated me like an equal and with that comes equal responsibility."

"I was held to the same standards as full-time staff. This taught me that when I’m in a full-time position, I have to be ready to put in the same time and effort as my team members to effectively collaborate.”

“At MPAC I enjoyed the emphasis on continuous learning. This was because of my manager, he always said when you continue learning, you continue improving. He encouraged me to improve, not just myself but also sharing what I learned with other people so they improve too."

"The culture in a company is not just one person, but for everyone. Everyone is learning. Everyone in the company is working together. You’re improving together.”

It really makes a difference when the company aligns with my beliefs. I felt like the other people at MPAC also aligned with my beliefs. It reassured me that I was on the right track.

Franklin Ramirez

What is your proudest achievement from your co-op terms?

“I think my proudest achievement would be from my second co-op term, which is mostly because it better aligned with software development and that's the type of career I want to go into.”

“The big thing I did was lead the development of a project. It was a chatbot retrieval augmented generation (RAG) project. Essentially, we wanted to create a chatbot that pulled information from the company database. Whenever a user inputs a question or a prompt, it directly pulls from the website and provides an answer.”

“The main use was for the IT team so that they can improve responses to requests. So instead of having them manually look at a website or database to try and find the correct answer, we just have a large language model to do that for them.”

How do you stand out from other students when you’re applying and interviewing for jobs?

“I think résumé wise, always keep improving it. Always keep changing it as you learn new things. Learn, create new projects.”

“For interviewing, my two biggest things are, one, always smile because it doesn't hurt to just be friendly. Appear happy, even if you’re nervous.”

“Two, the overall goal is to not treat it as a one-sided interview but instead as a conversation. I start by giving answers to their questions and follow up by asking them some questions about the company and what they're doing.”